ED2012 Theatre Review: Irish Shorts One (Theatre Alba)

Coming to Edinburgh to watch a Scottish company perform two little-known Irish plays in an isolated village within the city limits is an odd adventure. Theatre Alba’s amateur group perform plays by Yeats and Synge in Duddingston Kirk Manse garden, which overlooks a small loch at the end of a very pleasant walk around the base of Arthur’s Seat. The location is perfect for these two early 20th century plays by two of Ireland’s most famous writers, set in small, continually blighted Irish communities, loaded with widows, superstitions and the ghosts of the Irish dead. The plays lack drama, which is perhaps why they’re not often performed, but the cast are striking and the location alone is worth the walk.

NOW READ THIS RELATED ARTICLE!

ED2011 Theatre Review: Chekhov Shorts (Theatre Alba) Frankly, it’s worth going for the location alone. Situated in the heartbreakingly gorgeous gardens of Duddingston Kirk, the performance is lent an atmosphere of timelessness by its peaceful surroundings. Thankfully, the performance is as splendid as its setting: the show is an absolute firecracker; hysterically and consistently funny. Chekhov’s work...